In an electric compressor of this type, an inverter, a compressing mechanism portion and a motor are provided such that they are partitioned from each other (see patent documents 1 and 2 for example). According to an electric compressor disclosed in patent document 1, as shown in FIG. 13, a partition wall 104 is provided in a machine body container 101 for partitioning the machine body container 101 in its axial direction into a compression chamber 102 and an inverter chamber 103, a compressing mechanism portion 105 and a motor 106 are accommodated in the compression chamber 102, and an inverter 107 is accommodated in the inverter chamber 103. The inverter 107 is mounted such that the inverter 107 faces a suction port 108 where the motor 106 is located through the partition wall 104. The inverter 107 and the motor 106 are cooled by refrigerant sucked from the suction port 108 and then, the refrigerant flows into the compressing mechanism portion 105 (so-called low pressure type compressor).
As shown in FIG. 14, an electric compressor disclosed in patent document 2 includes a machine body container 112 in which a motor 111 and a compressing mechanism portion 113 are accommodated, and an inverter case 115 in which an inverter 114 is accommodated. The inverter case 115 is fastened to an end of a machine body container through a bolt, and the machine body container is located on the opposite side from the motor 111 across the compressing mechanism portion 105.
A suction hole 116 is provided in the compressing mechanism portion 113, sucked refrigerant which flows from the suction hole 116 is once introduced into a passage 117 provided in the inverter case 115, heat is exchanged between the refrigerant and the inverter 114 and then, the refrigerant returns to the compressing mechanism portion 113 again. Refrigerant gas which is compressed by the compressing mechanism portion 113 cools the motor 111 and then, the refrigerant is discharged from a discharge hole 118 provided in the machine body container 112 (so-called high pressure type compressor).
Among high pressure type compressors, there is one described in patent document 3. A structure described in patent document 3 is shown in FIGS. 15 and 16. Although an inverter-integrated compressor shown in FIG. 15 is originally a lateral type but the inverter-integrated compressor is shows as a vertical type. FIG. 16 is an exploded view showing a structure of a cooling passage space including an inverter case 102 and a fixed blade 11 which forms a compressing mechanism portion.
According to this compressor, a compressing mechanism portion 4 is incorporated in a body casing 1, and an inverter case 102 closes the body casing 1. Refrigerant sucked from a suction pipe mounting portion 8 (see FIG. 16) provided in the inverter case 102 is dispersed to the suction passage 10 to cool an end wall 102a of the inverter case 102, heat is exchanged between the refrigerant and a heating element such as an IPM (intelligent power module) 105 or the like provided on a back surface of the end wall 102a to cool the heating element and then, the refrigerant flows into a compression space through a suction port 11a (see FIG. 16) of the fixed blade 11 which configures the compressing mechanism portion 4.
A compressor terminal 106 is fixed to the inverter case 102 through a snap ring 80 (see FIG. 16). A lead wire 2a from the motor (not shown) is connected to a cluster 106a through a communication passage 82 (see FIG. 16) provided in the vicinity of an outer periphery of the fixed blade 11, and is inserted into and fixed to the compressor terminal 106. A portion of the compressor terminal 106 on the side of the inverter is directly connected to a circuit substrate 101 through soldering or the like.
A guide fin 75 which controls a flow of refrigerant is provided on the end wall 102a of the inverter case 102 at a location opposed to the heating element such as the IPM 105, thereby enhancing a cooling effect.